Below is a snippet from the May issue of REALTOR Magazine....
Thriving for the Duration BY CHRISTOPHER M. WRIGHT from REALTOR® magazine
Getting into Dodge
In 1855, when Grenville Dodge was using his engineering background to help lay the tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad, his younger brother was using his management skills to lay the foundation of NP Dodge, one of the great grandfathers of today's residential brokerage industry.
The Omaha-based company launched more than 150 years ago in Council Bluffs, Neb., as a land company. Today, the company's roots are so deep in its market that when people give directions in Omaha, destinations are mapped out based on where they fall relative to Dodge Street.
The company is leveraging those deep roots to attract sales associates looking for a place to prosper in a slow market.
"NP Dodge has lived, learned, and grown in every type of market," says Mike Riedmann, president of the company's residential sales division. "That brings an unmatched level of confidence in the NP Dodge name, especially for sales associates looking for stability when things get tight."
The company's effort to grow its sales ranks while others are downsizing isn't the first time it's moved in one direction while competitors were moving in another.
After World War II, NP Dodge jumped into multifamily rental housing at a time when that segment of the industry was struggling because of strong home sales. Why? The company saw a way to cultivate future home buyers while tapping steady rental fee revenue, says Riedmann.
Over the years, the company has added to its core services. Now it has about a dozen business affiliates handling auctions, builder services, business brokerage, development, insurance, relocation, rental management, and title, among others.
Residential sales remain its core business, though, with some 550 sales associates in more than a dozen offices.
At that size, its residential operation is substantial but far from a giant. And that follows the company's business approach: It has been and continues to be conservative about its use of debt, says Riedmann. It won't use debt to fund operations or new facilities. Those are self-financed out of retained earnings. Dodge uses debt only for acquisitions.
The result is that the company, after all these years, can present itself as a bedrock of stability no matter what the market conditions, Riedmann says, and he thinks that's a surefire way to attract people in the industry.
"We knew that the slowdown would create turmoil in agent ranks and so we felt our opportunity was to grow by attracting and retaining those at the top," Riedmann says.
In a town where "north of Dodge" has helped people get their bearings for generations, it will come as no surprise if at least some of those sales associates end up at the company's door.
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